Caring For Your Beer Glasses & Pouring A Great Beer

So you've got your perfect beer stein (ordered from steins.com or our sister site, publasses.com of course).
Now what? Here's some tips for caring for your beer glasses as well as how to pour a great glass of your favorite beer.

Glassware Tips

Never chill your glassware, and decline if served a frosted glass. Why? As the beer hits the frosted glass condensation will occur and dilute your beer, while at the same time alter the serving temperature.

Hand-wash all glasses. Some dishwashers will leave a residue, which may effect the head retention as well as the flavor and aroma. Use a mild dishwashing soap, and if you are really anal retentive have a separate sponge for your glass ware so there is not cross contamination from greasy food particles on a used sponge. Let them air dry, do not hand dry because the towel may leave dust particles which will affect the head retention. Caring for you glassware in this manner will also protect gold- or silver- rimmed glasses and glasses with silk-screened brewery logos.

How to Pour a Beer The Right Way

Pouring beer is an art, and definitely part of the overall tasting experience. We always suggest that you drink a beer out of a glass, and recommend that you read the Beer Glass Guide. It's a great primer to understating why, and a guide guide to pairing a beer to its appropriate glass.

The following demonstrates the most common pouring technique which can be applied to most beers and glassware types. You'll also find that most bartenders pour draught beer as follows too.

Steps to a Perfect Pint

Use a clean glass. A dirty glass, containing oils, dirt or residuals from a previous beer, may inhibit head creation and flavours.

Hold your glass at a 45degree angle. Pour the beer, targeting the middle of the slope of the glass. Don't be afraid to pour hard or add some air between the bottle and glass.

At the half-way point bring the glass at a 90degree angle and continue to pour in the middle of the glass. This will induce the perfect foam head. And remember, having a head on a beer is a good thing. It releases the beer's aromatics and adds to the overall presentation. You may also want to gradually add distance between the bottle and glass as you pour, to also inspire a good head. An ideal head should be 1" to 1-1/2".

With bottled conditioned beers, that may have a considerable amount of yeast in the bottle, you may wish to watch closely as you pour ... if you don't like yeast in your poured beer. However, this is the highlight of some beers and actually wanted. Just note that the inclusion of yeast will alter the clearness and taste of your poured beer, and lively yeast is high in vitamins and nutrients!